A bipartisan group of governors on Wednesday night sent a letter to Congressional leaders urging them to pass legislation to stabilize Obamacare’s individual health market.
“We urge Congress to quickly pass legislation to stabilize our private health insurance markets and make quality health insurance more available and affordable,” the governors wrote in the letter.
The governors support the agreement reached by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) to restore the subsidies to insurers cut off by the Trump administration this month. They called for the government to fund the cost sharing reduction (CSR) payments through 2019. The governors warned that nixing the CSR payments will raise premiums and cause insurers to leave the marketplace, citing a Congressional Budget Office report predicting a premium spike.
“With the elimination of the federal payments for the cost charing reduction program, insurers are faced with significant financial losses, which could force them to withdraw from the marketplace, or, in some states, request significant rate increases,” the governors wrote.
Once again, Republican and Democrat governors join together, united in support of the bipartisan efforts of Sens. Alexander and Murray to bring real, positive change to America’s health care system. pic.twitter.com/ZK0ndgHmVP
— John Kasich (@JohnKasich) October 19, 2017
The Republican governors who signed the letter include Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Massachusetts Gov. Charles Baker, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, and Vermont Gov. Phil Scott. Independent Alaska Gov. Bill Walker and several Democratic governors also signed the letter.
Earlier this week, it appeared that Congress had a break-through when Alexander and Murray announced that they had reached an agreement on a bill to stabilize the individual market. But several Republican lawmakers are skeptical, and President Donald Trump has sent worrisome mixed signals on the bill, leaving it unclear whether Congress could pass it.
Kasich’s use of the word “Democrat” as an adjective suggests that he is something other than a nice moderate GOPer that the press swoons over. Sounds like one of the Freedumb Caucus clowns.
But the letter itself is a positive, no doubt.
This idiocy will cost the taxpayers, because when premiums go up, the subsidies go up as well. Some fiscal conservatives these congresscritters are…
These milquetoast governors obviously fail to understand and appreciate that I, Donald J. Trump, have accomplished more in my 9 months than any other President in HISTORY…
And he’s the healthiest President in HISTORY too, according to his doctor, who treated every one back to Washington.
But, what does this have to do with bolstering Trump’s ego and taking revenge on Obama? That is the first test of any health care legislation, don’t you know?